Ipswich Town suffer Alex Palmer blow v Charlton Athletic - Kieran McKenna has confirmed the problem | OneFootball

Alex Palmer limped off the pitch during Ipswich Town's defeat against Charlton Athletic

Ipswich Town have suffered a nightmare return to Championship football following the October international break.

The Tractor Boys headed into the pause in domestic football in flying form, having just bested arch-rivals Norwich City in the league for the first time in 16 years.

This saw Kieran McKenna’s side pick up 10 points from their previous four matches, firmly establishing them as promotion candidates once more.

However, the Suffolk outfit have been defeated twice in four days since, completely killing off any potential momentum that was beginning to form.

Coming out second best in a tight encounter with a strong Boro side on the road can be excused, but a 3-0 loss at home to Charlton Athletic will be a major concern for the Portman Road faithful.

Ipswich are now 12 points behind league leaders Coventry City, which isn’t an insurmountable gap, but is one that McKenna and Co. won’t want to grow any larger.

To compound the Tractor Boys’ woes, there was also bad news on the injury front during their Charlton defeat.

Kieran McKenna provides Alex Palmer injury update

During the first half of Ipswich’s defeat against Charlton, there was a moment of concern for McKenna as goalkeeper Alex Palmer limped up the field of play.

This came after the shot-stopper passed the ball out to Dara O’Shea, which resulted in him suffering what is thought to be an ankle injury.

In came Christian Walton to replace Palmer and make his first league appearance of the season, but he couldn’t prevent Nathan Jones’ side from running riot in the second half of proceedings.

After the match, McKenna provided an update on Palmer’s situation to Suffolk News, revealing that he will undergo a scan to find out the full extent of the problem.

The Ipswich Town boss said: “He’s pulled a muscle, (it) didn’t look great in terms of how he was limping.

“I’m sure there will be scans to see how he is. Calf, I think, it was down the back of his leg.”

Ipswich Town will hope for speedy Alex Palmer recovery

Ipswich Town supporters will be horrified by the way their side has started life back after the international break, especially given the strong form they carried into that pause in proceedings.

Next up is a home clash with West Brom, which is a game that McKenna’s side must get a result from. If not, they risk falling even further behind league leaders Coventry and could begin to worry about a potential failure to fight for promotion.

Palmer has been a reliable pair of hands for the Tractor Boys since joining from West Brom earlier this year, so he will be a real miss whilst sidelined.

Walton has only played eight league matches across the past two seasons, and won’t be operating at 100 per cent straight away. This could have major implications for Ipswich’s success come May, so the Portman Road faithful will be hoping Palmer enjoys a speedy recovery.